Imagine starting a new garden from scratch every single year? Maybe it sounds like extra work to some, but to many gardeners, it’s an exciting opportunity to create something totally new! That’s one reason why planting summer annuals is so popular. A few other reasons? They grow quickly and perform very well in summer heat and sunshine.

Here are five design tips for summer annual gardens:

A consistent color pallet like whites or yellows can be a very clean and pretty look in a garden. Some gardeners like to plant flowers that are a reminder of a vacation or a loved one.

In our garden outside News 12, I’m planting a tropical themed garden bed. Here, bold foliage and unusual flowers are a great idea. I’m planting Cannas for their large leaves and beautiful flowers and elephant ears because the foliage comes in so many shapes, sizes, and colors. Brugmansia is known as “Angel Trumpet” for its heavenly smelling and very long tubular flowers.

Small growing annuals like impatients, begonias, petunias, or Madagascar periwinkle make a great accent in front of larger landscaping plants already in the garden.

Larger flowers like dahlia, sunflowers and tall cleome and zinnia varieties would do best in the back of a garden bed where smaller & stronger plants can support their lanky stems.

Plants look best in groups! I find that containers with an “odd number” of plants always look well balanced. Containers also look great in groups of 3: one small, one medium, and one large.

Most gardeners think of flowers when they are looking for annuals, but foliage can be just as exciting. Dark and large leaves from plants like coleus pair beautifully with glossy leaves from dragon wing begonia or grassy foliage from Cordyline australis or lavender.

Larger garden displays will look more interesting with a mix of short growing and medium flowers with a large plant like Ensete Maurelli banana to break up the pattern every couple of feet.

Annuals are fast growing so the most important thing to keep in mind, is to give them some space to grow & be patient. Annual flower displays may not look full early in the season, but are quickly lush and gorgeous by summer!